Larkken: Strong female protagonist becomes involved with werewolves. The werewolf packs are organized differently, but the two series deal similarly with issues of independence and also draw in other supernatural beings.

OmaRoses: Both stories are hot and action packed with a young shifter heroine who is rare and thus very coveted and smothered within her pack/pride. She must battle her family to earn her independence, and fight her heart and instincts to avoid being “owned” by HOT men whom drive them crazy with lust and desire. (Stray is a bit more sensual)… (more)

I have never read an urban fantasy other than Anne Rice, and so I have limited resources to judge this book on. So I'm not really sure what else this genre has to offer. This book was highly recommended for this genre, so that's why I picked it.The story felt extremely rushed. There wasn't really any exposition or character development in the beginning so I didn't really care all that much about any of the main characters. I like there to be a little build up so you get invested in them.All in all it was a fast read and entertaining. But not amazing. ( )

After twists and turns and scratching of the head Moon Called ended up a pretty satisfying read. First of all, I really like Mercy. As a coyote shifter raised by werewolves she's had a difficult life and always felt like an outsider but it hasn't left her angry, bitter and broken. She's a smart capable heroine that's easy to root for. Mercy stands up for herself amongst the multitude of dominant males surrounding her and manages to do it without coming across and bossy and annoying. She's tough and can hold her own yet knows when to get the hell outta dodge.

One of the problems I had with Moon Called was that the numerous twists and turns in the plot weren't really necessary. First it's one guy who's the big bad, then another, then it's really this other guy that's calling the shots. The first book in a series has so much to put out there that I'm ok with the plot being a little obvious and ordinary. I'd rather get to know the characters and find out what makes them tick. Briggs gave us an excellent look at werewolf politics and structure. I just wish I'd connected with Adam, Sam and even Mercy more. Maybe then when Adam's making out with Mercy on her front porch it would've made more sense. As it was I was left wondering when did she start liking him like that?

Briggs created an intriguing enough world for me to continue on and hopefully discover more of what makes Mercy tick. It promises to be a fun ride! ( )

I’ve known about Patricia Briggs for a while now, and seeing as I’m on a mission to expand my urban fantasy reads beyond The Dresden Files, I decided to pick up the first two books in this series the last time I stopped by B&N. Unfortunately, I realized too late that, like a lot of urban fantasy authors with fairly long series, Briggs doesn’t really hit her stride in the first book.

My biggest problem with this book was the plot — it was chugging along perfectly fine for a while, and then, in the last third, it suddenly took a turn for the ridiculously convoluted. Literally, characters sat down in a living room and starting throwing out incredibly far-reaching conclusions based on very little information that painted an incredibly confusing, hard-to-follow, picture of the sources of conflict in the novel. There was a point where my eyes glazed over…and I basically stopped reading. Right there. I skimmed quickly through the remaining 40 pages or so just to get an idea of what happened to the major characters.

It was all very unfortunate. But it happens.

As for other aspects of the book…

The characters — there were quite a few characters in this book, and some of them were fairly well characterized while others leaned a bit flat despite their relative importance to the plot. Mercy makes for a decent protagonist with a fairly rich backstory that plays well into the plot of the book, but a lot of the characters, like Adam and Samuel, are lacking in development throughout.

The world-building — was okay. I think the supernatural world could have been fleshed out more and more evenly. One of my issues was that world-building concepts weren’t introduced or even hinted at until they became 100% relevant to the plot. Which is a mistake because, when you do it over and over, it starts to feel like you’re just making it up as you go along, inserting whatever concepts are convenient for the plot. You need to build your world more organically.

All in all, this book has some interesting characters and plot points to offer, but it fell pretty short in several regards, not the least of which was the ending. ( )

Wikipedia in English (1)

Werewolves can be dangerous if you get in their way, but they'll leave you alone if you are careful. They are very good at hiding their natures from the human population, but I'm not human. I know them when I meet them, and they know me too.

Mercy Thompson's sexy next-door neighbour is a werewolf.

She's tinkering with a VW bus at her mechanic shop that happens to belong to a vampire.

But then, Mercy Thompson is not exactly normal herself...and her connection to the world of things that go bump in the night is about to get her into a whole lot of trouble.